Large format motorsports photographer - What effect is this?

FrancoD wrote:

From the photographer , Brandon Faith :

I’m not sure why it’s so controversial but sure! As mentioned in the thread it’s a combination of dof on the camera and tilting and swinging. If I want to increase the effect digitally (which I only ever do lightly,) in lightroom I’ll create an inverse radial filter following the natural lines of blur I get from the camera itself, and then play around with decreasing sharpness, clarity, and texture.

Thanks Brandon.

Thanks for posting this. I wasn't able to find it in the comments section, have you contacted Brandon Faith directly?

Maybe I would comment on why I don't like it. Film photography in my opinion evokes a certain feeling of authenticity which is completely broken when you realize that this kind of digital processing was applied. The magic is lost and I start questioning what else was digitally adjusted and why was this shot on film at all.

The other thing is the way that the effect was applied (masking, abrupt transitions between sharp and blurry zones). To me, it looks that it was done hastily and not with enough care and attention to detail. That contrasts starkly with the perceived notion of high quality associated with large format film and significant effort and skill needed to capture such images.

Don't get me wrong, there is a lot to like about author's photos, I just think that digital postprocessing like this undermines his effort and I was left with somewhat mixed feelings instead of being just impressed with his work.

All of this is of course my personal point of view so I would be interested in how you and others see it.